Nero's Rebirth
by DarkSolus
Summary: A young man who left his college and accidentally got himself into a sticky situation, decides to start his life anew in a fictional world of RWBY. Meanwhile, a storm is brewing on the horizon, threatening to engulf both worlds in a cataclysm, and Nero is unwittingly pulled along. Watch as he overcomes his fears and insecurities, and maybe he will save the world? Who knows?
1. System Help & FAQ

_System Help & FAQ for version 1.0.0 release_

**\- Character Status (aka Status or Charlist) -**

_Shows all of your character parameters, including HP, attributes and your Mastery Points, as well as equipment._

**Name**: The main name of your character given after birth (or the first name you are ever given).  
**Aliases**: The alternative names (aliases) you possess. Depending on the alias chosen, you can get various effects.  
**Race**: Your race (and sub-race if exists). Every race has its' own bonuses, as well as downsides.  
**Human**: +1 to every Stat (except LUC and CHA) for every 15 total MP, Racial Skill: -50 REP with Faunus.  
**Faunus**: +1 to (2 phys. attr.) for every 5 MP, Racial Skill: **Night Vision**, reduced XP gain for (1 phys. attr.)-oriented skills, -50 REP with Humans. _**Note: choice of physical attributes depends on your sub-race.  
**_**Age**: Your age. While mostly inconsequential, it can affect Reputation and grant modifiers (both positive and negative).

**HP**: Health Points. HP is tied directly to your physical health and provides you with an easy way to monitor it. All ailments, including illnesses and poisons, are converted into 'debuffs' – negative modifiers affecting either your HP regeneration or overall HP pool. Debuffs have a cumulative effect, so be careful. More info on buffs and debuffs can be found in the end of this section.

**AP**: Aura Points. Locked at the start of the game, they can be acquired by unlocking one of the rare 'inheritable' skillsets in the game: **Aura**. Aura Points provide a source of energy for various skills, and also act as a shield against physical attacks. More on Aura and inheriting skills can be found in the Skills section of this guide.

**MP**: Mastery Points. The ultimate treasures of the System, Mastery Points are a measure of your skill and proficiency, and are divided into two categories:  
Skill Mastery Points (SMP): obtained via leveling up your skills. For example, every level of a skill grants you 1 SMP, which is then automatically assigned to the same skill. You cannot control their assignment.  
Free Mastery Points (FMP): obtained from Quests, Dungeons and from passing skill milestones (10, 25, 50, 100 etc.). These can be assigned to any skill you currently have, and cannot be reassigned afterwards.

Depending on the skill, Mastery Points raise your stats; i.e. a two-stat skill **One-Handed Weapon** has STR and AGI as its requisites and so every MP in that skill grants 0.5 STR and 0.5 AGI. Three-stat skills, like **Mentalist** grant 0.33 stat increase per level. The ratio can vary, however.

**Attributes**: Numeric values that represent various aspects of your character. This system uses 8 different attributes (stats) that can be split into three categories.  
**Physical:** Strength (STR), Agility (AGI), Endurance (END).  
**Mental:** Intelligence (INT), Wisdom (WIS), Willpower (WPO)  
**Social:** Charisma (CHA), Luck (LUC).

Strength: responsible for your raw physical damage, total weight of equipment you can carry, as well as overall fitness.  
Agility: responsible for your evasion, speed and flexibility, as well as critical hit chances and accuracy, firearms included.  
Endurance: total HP (AP) pool and regeneration, your stamina, pain tolerance and threshold.  
Intelligence: represents the ability to think and solve problems. Characters with high INT find it easier to solve puzzles and riddles of all kinds.  
Wisdom: represents the character's common sense and life experience.  
Willpower: represents ability to resist mental and magical attacks, as well as overall level of sanity.  
Charisma: responsible for the character's REP gain rate, leadership bonuses and NPC interactions.  
Luck: increases the chance of high-quality loot, finding what is hidden as well as larger bonuses for quests.

You cannot permanently level your attributes in any way other than acquiring and leveling the skills that correspond to the stats you want to raise. (Effects and equipment grant only temporary bonuses)

**Effects**: various positive and negative modifiers your character has active. They can apply to nearly every aspect of your character, and most of them have a fixed duration. Generally effects can be divided into two categories: positive, i.e. 'Buffs', and negative 'Debuffs'. For ease of use, the effects are also displayed in your HUD as pictograms with a timer depicting the duration of said effects. Buffs have a green framed pictogram, while debuffs have a red frame. Both buffs and debuffs have a cumulative effect, meaning that they 'stack'. For example, a common debuff '**Flu**' that gives you -10% of total HP, a short recurring [Nausea] effect and [Fever], can be either cured or suppressed with a buff that counteracts the '**Flu**', i.e. '**Antivirus**'. Be advised that some of the buffs, like the aforementioned '**Antivirus**' are specially tailored to cure the corresponding debuffs, and will not work (or even give you another debuff) unless you have the debuff in question.

**Equipment**: The items (weapons, armor and trinkets) you have equipped. More on Items can be found in the Inventory section of this guide.

**\- Skills -**

**Skills** in this game are the most important aspect. The levels of your skills, as well as their diversity, determine your character development the same way classes in most RPGs do. Acquired and leveled through action, this ensures you do not have any useless and obsolete skills. Note that any unused skill will deteriorate over time, so make sure to train them at least once a day. This, however, allows you to get rid of any accidental skills or ones that you deem no longer useful. Marking a skill as 'Unused' in this tab will accelerate its deterioration rate from 0.33x to 2x, and this decision can be cancelled only within the first 24 hours.

Some unique skills and skillsets, however, can be acquired through a process called 'Inheritance', when one person who has the skill sacrifices either ½ of the skill level or the entirety of the skill's point pool (if it exists) in order to transfer the skill to another. These skills are generally incredibly hard to obtain through action, and require a high level of mental fortitude and/or Willpower in order to do so. Examples of inheritable skillsets: '**Aura**', '**Magic**', '**Youki**', '**Chakra**', etc. Note that this is by no means a comprehensive list and it can heavily depend on the world you're in. (More on Skillsets can be found in the next entry)

Using most skills is as simple as performing an action associated with said skill. Some skills, especially ones related to casting, have gestures and phrases required to cast the spell. Skills do not have cooldowns, nor do they have an activation time, so the speed of casting/performing an action depends only on you. However, executing a skill incorrectly does not earn you any skill experience, and in rare cases can even grant you a debuff, so it is recommended to find a comfortable margin where you make as little mistakes as possible.

**Skillsets** in this game are groups of certain skills that utilize a form of energy, or are related to a certain aspect of character development. For example, all skills that incorporate melee combat can be found in the **Melee** skillset, while casting skills can be found under **Magic**. Skillsets generally do not gain levels, nor do they grant Mastery Points, but an exception is made for viewing others' skills: their skillsets have a 'level' that is equal to the average level of skills within it. This 'level' is purely cosmetic and made for ease of comparison.

**\- Inventory -**

**Inventory** is a type of dimensional pocket that is solely dedicated to storing items. Items stored within do not add to your total weight. It cannot be accessed by anyone other than its owner however some items have a chance of getting 'dropped' on the ground after your character's death. This chance is affected by the item's rarity and class, your PK rating and your LUC attribute. Quest items and items that had been looted in the past 6 hours cannot be dropped unless stated otherwise.

By default, your inventory has 40 slots, each slot being able to store up to a hundred identical items, or a 'stack' of items. Increasing the storage capacity is possible with bags and backpacks, although any item that is stored in such a bag will not be weightless and will be able to get stolen by characters with '**Theft**' skill. Chance depends on the thief's skill level, your LUC and AGI attribute, the item's rarity and other modifiers such as enchantments. The aforementioned 6-hour grace period applies here unless stated otherwise in the item's description.

**\- Quest Log -**

**Quest Log**, sometimes called Quests, is a listing of all completed, failed and active quests the character has at any moment of time. By default, the quest log opens at the 'Active' tab showing any quests in progress, the rewards for their completion, as well as the short note detailing the quest's details. This note is not comprehensive; it is strongly recommended to pay attention during the process of acquiring a quest, else you might not be able to complete it.

While the majority of the quests in the game are straightforward and relatively short (1-3 hours on average), there are some that are rather sophisticated and are instead considered questlines. Questlines can take up to a month of game time, and the prize for completing such quests is far more rewarding.

The game grades each individual quest according to several major factors, such as its length, the difficulty of the enemies (if there are any), repetitiveness and storyline importance. The grades are as follows:

**Common**: the most abundant and the least rewarding type of quests. Often repetitive, especially social quests. Average completion time (ACT): 2 hrs. Possible rewards: Reputation (with faction and/or individual), Lien, Common-grade items, rarely 1-2MP.

**Uncommon**: a step above Common, mostly involves dealing with enhanced enemies and dangerous deliveries. ACT: 2-4 hrs. Possible rewards: Reputation, Lien, Common and Uncommon items, 3-5MP, next quest in the chain (if exists).

**Rare**: hard to find, hard to complete. A party of 3-4 is recommended; involves strong named enemies (dungeon/location bosses). ACT: 5-12 hrs. Possible rewards: Lien, Uncommon and Rare items, expensive crafting materials, 5-15MP, access to other quests from the same quest giver.

**Epic**: very rarely found, mostly requires high Reputation and several quests to unlock. A party of up to 10 is strongly recommended, can involve several different locations and dungeons. ACT: up to 48 hrs. Possible rewards: Lien, Uncommon, Rare and Epic items, very expensive crafting materials, up to 40 MP, access to other quests.

**Mythic**: incredibly elusive, mostly unlocked from boss dropped items in lower-level quests. A small raid (up to 30) is required, can involve the entire continent. Raid bosses are often found via such quests. ACT: up to 2 weeks. Possible rewards: Reputation with a faction, Lien, Rare, Epic and Mythic items, unique crafting materials, up to 150 MP.

**Scenario**: one-of-a-kind quest. No precise requirements, no precise rewards, no ACT. Cannot be denied. Always involves the whole world. Common enemies: Continent and World Bosses, dozens of Raid bosses, hundreds of Dungeon and Location bosses. Recommended party: hell, bring a whole country for that.

**\- Achievements -**

**Achievements** tab shows you all of the achievements you have acquired during your playthrough. Achievements are granted for various repetitive gameplay actions, as well as 'heroic deeds', i.e. defeating a superior monster alone. Each achievement grants the player a certain amount of AP: achievement points that can be spent in the in-game store to purchase various cosmetic effects, rare mounts and armor skins. Note that some of the harder achievements can grant you reputation with factions and/or individuals.

**\- Friends -**

**Friends** tab shows you the characters you have befriended (sent them a friend request or gained enough Reputation). In this tab you can manage your friends, assign them certain groups for easy access or open up a private chat with them.

**\- Reputation -**

**Reputation** tab contains records about the Reputation you have earned with various factions and individuals. Note that individuals belonging to a certain faction will show up under that faction's name, even if your Reputation with them is different from the faction's REP as a whole. Different aliases can have different REP with factions.

Reputation classification:

-10 000 - -8 001 : Hostility (faction members/individuals will kill you on sight and hunt you when out of it, -99% REP gain)

-8 000 - -5 001 : Resentment (faction members/individuals will kill you on sight unless prevented to do so, -90% REP gain)

-5 000 - -3 001 : Contempt (+75% cost of all trade deals, -80% REP gain, faction members will try to trick you into breaking the law)

-3 000 - -2 001 : Distrust (+50% of all trade deals, -50% REP gain, faction members will be very suspicious of you)

-2 000 - -1 : Dislike (+25% of all trade deals, faction members will spread vile gossip about you)

0 : Neutral (no modifiers)

1 - 2 000 : Interest (-5% of all trades, faction members will talk to you more often)

2 001 - 3 000 : Trust (-15% of all trades, faction members will confide in you about trivial matters)

3 001 - 5 000 : Acceptance (-30% of all trades, +25% REP gain, faction members will invite you to their gatherings)

5 001 - 8 000 : Alliance (-50% of all trades, +30% REP gain, faction members will see you as one of their own)

8 001 - 10 000 : Brotherhood ( -75% of all trades, faction members will fight alongside you)

**\- Guild -**

**Guild** tab contains information about the guild you currently belong to, or the list of guilds you can join otherwise. Factions are also considered to be guilds, only requiring a certain faction-specific quest to be completed first. The tab also has sub-tabs such as Guild Vault, Guild Chat and Guild Members.

**\- GUI -**

**GUI**, or Graphical User Interface, is the way you interact with yourself and the game world around you. Here you can find the following elements:

HP / AP bars, located in the top left corner of your vision field, colored in deep red and ocean blue respectively.

Your character's name, located above the HP/AP bars.

Your character's Mastery Points as a substitute to level.

Your target's portrait, bars and Mastery Points (skull for bosses), located just right of your own.

Your party's portraits and bars, located underneath your own.

Effect pictograms, located at the top of your vision.

Scalable (1-10x) minimap in the top left corner.

Quest journal, located underneath the minimap.

Chat with channels in the bottom left corner.

Menu tabs, located at the bottom.

For more information about various GUI elements, enable Help Mode (red question mark in the Menu) and look over the element in question.

**\- FAQ -**

Q: What happens to the character upon its death?  
A: Death penalty in the game involves loss of items, 5% of Mastery Points and temporary loss of total HP bar. Upon death the character will be able to choose their spawn point, if they haven't done so before, and respawn.

The HP loss mechanic is simple. Every time you die, you temporarily lose 10% of your HP bar, and every day spent in a safe zone after that regenerates back 2% of your absolute total. For example, a player with 5 000 HP (maximum) dies three times in a row. After first death, his maximum HP will be 4 500, after second – 4 050, after third – 3 645. Then, after these three deaths, the player decides to stop playing and comes to a safe zone. He will be back to full capacity after 16 days of rest ((5 000 – 3 465/ 100 = 15.35). Should the player leave the safe zone, however, his HP will stop regenerating, and part of it will stay red until he returns back.

On account of PK and PvP in general, a rule is in place: should the player die more than 10 times within 24 hours, they are instantly teleported to the nearest safe zone, granted full PvP immunity until their HP regenerates back to full, but they are unable to leave the safe zone until then.

Q: How to receive quests?  
A: The process of acquiring a quest varies with their difficulty and your reputation with different factions and individuals. Even your race and age play their part in the questgiving process. For example, nobody would give an eight-year-old boy the task to exterminate some monsters in the village's vicinity simply because he's too young. However, if said boy proves himself a warrior (defeats a strong monster or NPC, for example), the villagers would be far more amenable and respectful. Help an elderly woman carry her groceries from time to time, and a month later she might tell you a story about how her husband perished in the Great War and that he wanted her to give his old sword to someone he would've deemed worthy. This game opens a lot of opportunities, and it is up to you to take the first step.

Q: Where can I trade my items?  
A: There are three ways you can trade something you don't like or don't need. First way is to click on the small vendor icon in your Inventory and carefully choose the items you want to sell. Getting them back is possible, but at a 150% cost. After selecting the items, click [Sell] near the vendor's icon, and all of the items will be instantly sold. There is a downside, however – items sold this way have a 33% price reduction compared to live vendors.

Second way is to trek to the nearest village or a town, where you can sell your cheap loot at a full cost to a live vendor, but we do not recommend selling something useful – you won't get very good money this way. Vendors also offer fair prices for common crafting ingredients, so if you're a beginner, it is your gold mine.

Third, and the most profitable, way is to sell (and buy) your items at an auction. Auction generally offers fair prices for truly useful and high-level equipment, and sometimes you can strike gold by finding something you always wanted but never seemed to get from those dungeon bosses.

You can also trade things directly with other players either through barter or by paying them, but be advised: this method is susceptible to scams and we do not take any responsibility unless it was done through illegal means.

Q: How do I find my way to [X]?  
A: Your minimap has a useful function of sorting out items of importance, such as quest locations, shops and vendors, banks, etc. Just tinker with the minimap a bit to see its potential! If you are lost in the city, you can always ask some passers-by, they will (probably) point you in the right direction. Be cautious, however, as your Reputation might work against you and instead of getting directions, you will get -10 HP from a hit to the face.

Q: What skills do I need to level?  
A: It depends on your playstyle, of course. Some find it easier to sneak around and do insane amounts of damage from behind, some feel it is much safer to stay back and shoot whatever comes at them. You will find your niche even if you're a weird mix of both, as the game does not restrict you from having any skills you want unless they really clash with each other.


	2. Chapter I: Torn Away

**Author Note:** Hello there, and welcome to my first chapter of what I hope to be my best try at fan-fiction. First of all, if you aren't experienced with RPG and games in general, read the Help & FAQ posted before this chapter. It explains some of the gaming jargon used here, as well as the principle of how the world around the protagonist works. A comprehensive jargon dictionary can be found on the Internet.

Second, while I love the Gamer manhwa which most of the LitRPG-style fanfics are based on here, I'm not a fan of necromancy, i.e. forcing a dead horse to run for a little bit longer. Instead, I turned to the classics of the genre, which are now the Russian authors: Dmitry Rus, Vasily Makhanenko and several others. Those of you who read Roman Prokofiev's "Cat's Quest" might recognise the underlying principles of the game's system.

Of course, I will be glad to hear your opinions before I fully commit myself to this project, as I plan for the book to be quite large and time-consuming, therefore… Read and Review, folks!

* * *

_You know, never in my wildest dreams had I thought I would truly become a hero of my own story. Being a bookworm and a casual RPG gamer, I thought that living through fictional heroes' stories was the best substitute for heroic deeds I could ever achieve in my normal life._

_And then, full-dive virtual reality technology hit the market._

_An order of magnitude more complex than the simple goggles and helmets the majority of people used nowadays, the manufacturers presented the capsules as "mind-bogglingly real" and altogether awesome. The first week of sales left the stores empty, as did the second and the third one. By the end of the year, the only people who didn't use the second generation of VR gear were the poor and the Luddites. Sounds awesome, isn't it?_

_And it was, up until the first person to 'tear away', as the Internet communities dubbed it. Rumour has it that the poor man was so engrossed in playing a space combat simulator he died of dehydration inside the VR pod. However, even though his body was already six feet under, the man continued to play. After he was informed both by his friends and the game masters about the fact that he was, well, dead in real life, he apparently just shrugged and said: 'At least I don't need to waste my time eating now, that's a nice bonus.'_

_I was never sure whether the story was true or not. Even with the ever-increasing amount of admittedly dubious and shady internet reports about people 'torn' from their reality into another world, I still couldn't wrap my head around it. It sounded so outlandish and so… fictional, I suppose, that one day my sense of logic just put its hands up and died._

_But hindsight is 20/20, as they say, and I'm certainly glad the stories were true. Otherwise, this story would have never seen the light of day._

* * *

Chapter I: Torn Away

Life as a jobless 20-year-old university dropout is not an easy one. Not when all you have left as material possessions is your apartment, a bank account that gets slimmer and slimmer every day you breathe and a pile of your deceased parents' clothes.

Mom passed away from a sudden brain aneurysm shortly after she and I both celebrated our birthdays – 41st and 17th respectively. I was still in school back then and preparing to enrol into a prestigious medical college when this happened. In April, six months later, I had to attend a court hearing concerning her inheritance, and I barely won, leaving her estranged (and a bit touched in the head, but nobody cares) father with nothing.

Not long after I've finished my second year in the uni, Dad was diagnosed with a terminal stage of cancer and lived for two months more afterwards. During that time he managed to sell almost everything we had – Mom's old car, his old two-story house in the middle of nowhere, an unfurnished apartment downtown he intended to present me after I graduated… All for nought, as my university somehow found out about my problems and presented an ultimatum – either I get out after the semester is over and keep my money, or I futilely try to pay for my education and eventually end up not only as a dropout, but also penniless. My dean was a nice and helpful woman, all things considered, but she was also blunt to a fault.

I was out the next day, and while the money we managed to save up would be enough to ensure I lived peacefully for two more years, the problem of having no education was glaringly apparent.

The middle of the 21st century wasn't a great time for workers of all kinds. The rise of robotics and AI technology in one fell swoop managed to eliminate almost eighty per cent of jobs that didn't require much in terms of creativity – clerks, builders, policemen. That, in turn, led to a drastic rise in unemployment, crime and other nasty stuff that happens when a society experiences a cultural and technological shock.

And I was smack dab in the middle of it all.

Imagine my surprise when I found out that modern games offered a free conversion of in-game cash into real money (not all of them, mind you, only those sponsored by the government). I was ecstatic. This surely was the way for me to fix my financial situation! And as it was, I earned enough money through trading that it was enough to pay my bills and leave enough behind for me to indulge myself once in a while. Until today.

You see, there was a game called "Nine Worlds" – a typical RPG with elements of real-time strategy. The premise was that you as a player reincarnated into one of the nine worlds the game had to offer to help the natives defend their borders against invasions from other dimensions. The enemies varied from world to world, of course, but the idea stayed the same: choose a place to build your own fortress, level it up, complete various quests, etc. etc.

One day, a huge castle appeared on the auction. Apparently, the castle was owned by a large clan that managed to upgrade the hold to the maximum level, as well as gain allegiance of the surrounding towns. That was extremely hard to do, as the locals weren't really all that talkative. Oh, they were certainly grateful for defending them, but they still refused any and all attempts to get them as subordinates. Needless to say, the castle was expensive. No, scratch that, it was worth its weight in gold. And my clan wanted the castle.

The auction was due in five hours – a very short amount of time to get the fifty-five million gold coins necessary to raise the stakes. As it was, we managed to collect the money by draining our characters dry – we sold everything we could reliably sell without leaving ourselves only in underwear. We even forked out the real cash.

I admit, I got a bit carried away and tapped my untouchable pile of cash, but at the time I thought it was totally worth it. It wasn't.

The deal, as I learned later on, was a scam of massive proportions. Somehow the person who put the castle on auction managed to hack the guild leader's account and even convince the guild that it all was for the best. The castle was sold; the money went to the hacker, who disappeared. Shortly afterwards the real guild leader came online, and it all went downhill from there.

I don't know how, but my clan as a whole was convicted of an assisted crime, including myself. Maybe our leader was guilty, or maybe not. Even my lawyer said the whole thing reeked, but in the end, I was under house arrest until the last hearing where my fate was to be decided. I wasn't stupid. It was painfully obvious I would spend at least several years in jail for that stunt and I had no desire to do so. Luckily, I had an out: the 'torn away' phenomenon.

My house arrest was fairly mild, all things considered. I was left alone, my bank account wasn't frozen and I could still access the Internet. Especially calming was the fact that my trusty VR pod was not sealed by the authorities, unlike some of my clansmen's. Maybe they had some shady dealings outside the current fiasco, I'm not sure, but right now I could thank the deities for that ray of sunshine.

My plan was as simple as a doornail and risky beyond all measure. I just had to get in the pod, seal myself inside, take a lethal dose of sedatives mixed with bleach and immediately log into the only game that gave me the sense of belonging these days.

RWBY.

A month before, I had received a spam email from a game development company "Rooster Teeth" that stated they were searching for beta-testers of their latest project – a game called RWBY. I almost dismissed it out of hand until I noticed the hefty sum the company stated was to be paid to each tester after the beta period ends. Several calls and Internet searches later I confirmed they were the real deal, and that this was their second project – the first being Red vs. Blue, a popular FPS game that was already on its third sequel and showing no signs of stopping.

Two days later, I went into the game for the first time and fell in love with it. I have no idea how the developers managed to make the world so alive and… real, for lack of a better word, but it certainly was something that couldn't be attributed to technology. Hell, for all I know they hired a wizard to create a separate dimension and find a way to transport all of us there every time we logged in. Even the occasional bug, like an empty item description or an errored NPC that refused to give a quest, did not detract from the world's beauty. And the fact that you had an option to choose a colour-related name for better world immersion and some reputation bonuses was just the icing on the proverbial cake.

And today, the company planned on finally releasing the game to the masses. A major story update was in the works for release, and it was something I didn't want to miss.

First thing I did was to open the browser window and find the game site. Logging in and navigating through the menu, I found what I was searching for – an option to convert your real-world money into in-game currency, Lien. Several clicks later, I consciously stopped myself before I turned almost a million dollars into several million Lien. Now was not the time, it was to be done shortly before log-in so that nobody would be able to stop me.

After preparing a deadly mixture of sedatives and drugs that lower blood pressure (I chickened out on bleach, sue me), I dissolved them in warm water so that they would be absorbed faster. Taking the now murky-white water with me into the pod, I tapped [Confirm] in the transaction window, sealed the pod, drunk the sour-tasting poison and initiated the log-in procedure.

By the time my leg bracelet alerted the authorities of my suicide attempt, I was already in the world of RWBY, having left my old body behind.

* * *

**Welcome back, **{**Nero**}**!**

**Installed game version: 0.9.2 beta.**

**Current game version: 1.0.0 release.**

**Updating…**

**Update complete. The changelog is available in System Help & FAQ.**

**Auto-selecting server based on your preferences…**

**ERROR. Server not available. **

**Selecting server based on your connection…**

**ERROR. Unable to connect to the server, please contact support.**

**\- ERROR LOGGED -**

… … … … …

**\- ERROR RESOLVED -**

**Welcome to **[unidentified symbols]** server, **{**Nero**}**!**

**Update 1.0.0 features dozens of new quests, dungeons and raids, as well as a cohesive storyline. For more changes, see **_**Changelog**_**.**

**Due to your status as beta-tester, your character has been reset to default settings. Your appearance has not been affected. Character Creation available.**

Well, that could've gone far better, but I'm in too much hurry to ponder what's going on. Character Creation!

The screen that opened in front of me was the same one I remembered from my first day as a tester – sliders to modify your body structure, an optional field for a backstory, as well as essential ones for name, race and age. The only difference was in the design – apparently, the design team decided to keep it minimalistic with a dash of that uniqueness.

For the race choice, I went with Human as I've already played as Faunus, and to tell you the truth, I was mighty uncomfortable – the additional body parts and enhanced senses are cool until you exit the pod and stumble around your apartment trying to keep your balance. And while I wouldn't have that problem anymore, I was subjected to a lot of hate and discrimination from the NPCs for my racial choice. So, no, I'm not about to become a cute cat-boy only to get crucified by an angry mob that suffered from one of the White Fang raids. The developers actually had to put a warning about that after several accidents with people playing as Faunus with the feelings cranked up to the maximum.

As for the backstory, I debated on leaving the field blank, but eventually caved in to my inner fanboy and put in that I was from a respected family of Huntsmen, lived in the mountains of Atlas and had an older brother that went on to serve in the Atlesian army. I myself was an aspiring Huntsman of twelve years old. Nothing too outlandish, I didn't know whether the game would dump me in the starting city, which was the city of Vale for humans, or in the place I specified as my home in the backstory. I for sure didn't want to end up in the Badlands – the mobs there were vicious as all hell and equally over-levelled. Probably they were a location for a Scenario quest that the devs had in the works for release.

Satisfied with the changes, I confirmed my choice and the creation screen disappeared.

**Preliminary stages complete. Generating the starting area.**

The world flashed around me and I suddenly felt the decrease in gravity I've long since learned to associate with RWBY. An unbidden smile of success appeared on my face, and I had no intention of suppressing it. Now, nothing except a sudden cascade failure of all servers hosting the world could bring me out of RWBY. My old body's dead and probably already stiffened inside the coffin-pod, and I'm here ready to start my life anew.

I was distracted from my elation by a system pop-up appearing.

**Spawn point has been rebound. Current spawn point: Solitas, Atlesian Mountains. {1883, 7437}**

So, apparently, my guess about where I would end up was correct. The northernmost continent of Solitas, where the kingdom of Atlas (formerly Mantle) was located, was now my home for the foreseeable future unless I decide to relocate somewhere south. Maybe Vale could be a nice option, I've always loved shopping there while I was not grinding the dungeons.

The minimap dutifully shows me that I'm currently inside a two-story wooden house in the middle of nowhere, and there are no other markers around indicating an NPC or a player. Though, with the weird stuff that's happened to me upon logging in, I doubt anyone else would show up. I guess I'll have to make do with what I have.

Sending a bug report to the GMs was like shouting into an empty well – deep, dark, and you can only hear your own echoing voice. The system didn't even send me an automated reply. Log Out function was similarly unresponsive, as was the Friend list. It was wiped clean, with absolutely no entries whatsoever. Might be the fact that they didn't bring the data over from the beta, or the fact we were on different servers.

Shrugging at this and deeming the situation to be bearable, I brought up my character status.

**\V/**

**Name: **Nero Valkoinen (**Aliases:** None)  
**Race:** Human  
**Age:** 12

**HP: 30  
AP: 90  
MP: 1**

**STR: 11.00  
AGI: 11.00  
END: 11.00**

**INT: 10.00  
WIS: 10.00  
WPO: 10.00**

**CHA: 10.00  
LUK: 10.00**

**Equipped: **[Robust Shirt], [Robust Jeans], [Robust Boots].

**\V/**

As expected, I had both my gear and my stats reset, but what warmed my heart was a small line of text that simply said: **Lien: 4 677 900.** That was an incredible amount of money; in fact, I would've been able to purchase a full set of at least Epic gear, a step behind the best, and still have enough left over to shower in cash every day. Sadly, I've never seen a piece of Mythic rarity as we were all beta-testing the game, not hurrying to clear out the raid dungeons where such pieces sometimes dropped.

My Inventory was, not unexpectedly, empty aside from the [Amulet of Safe Return] that allowed you to teleport to your bind point at any time except when in combat, and it had a warm-up time of five seconds to prevent PvP escapes.

Closing the menus, I decided to go out and scout the vicinity. It was time for me to rise back to my former glory.

* * *

_~~~ Meanwhile, one world away. ~~~_

"What can you tell me about him?" a strict-looking man in a uniform asked, walking side by side with another.

"Nothing ground-breaking," responded his smaller colleague. "The forensics determined the cause of death was him overdosing on sedatives and other drugs everyone has available in their first aid kit. No prior history of him being a drug addict or a gambler, though his Internet history shows he was keenly interested in that rumour about people getting 'torn away'," he made air quotes at that. "But whatever he did was successful, as our guys back at IT tracked him to the game login server, after which he vanished into nothingness. The official servers have no trace of his existence, and the beta ones are still offline. We made an enquiry to the developers, but I think we'll get jack shit."

The uniformed man stopped, as did his companion.

"And what about others?"

"Same thing, the only difference is in the suicide method. All of them tried to log in, all of them disappeared afterwards. The AI imitator cores that used to run the beta servers are fried beyond recovery, but you already know that. Argh," the shorter policeman growled in frustration, "I'm one hundred per cent certain we're missing a key piece of that puzzle. Without it, all we can do is watch and hope everything turns out okay."

"That we do, James, that we do," the first man replied, taking out an electronic cigarette and taking a drag. "Now, what about…"

* * *

**A new skill has been acquired!  
[One-Handed Weapon], STR/AGI, Lv. 1 / 100.**

The skill system was just like I remembered it to be – intuitive and very hard to grind. Hell, I had to strike that damned wooden post in the backyard for half an hour before the system decided I knew what I was doing. Had it been a live opponent, it would've unlocked a lot faster, but until I find someone to spar with, that was the only thing I could do. One-Handed Weapon was the most common skill in the game, rivalled only by [Two-Handed Weapon], [Firearms] and [Shields], and it often was the most levelled skill in one's arsenal during mid- and end-game.

Next skill I wanted to get was Acrobatics, as it was purely AGI-based and evolved into [Three-Dimensional Movement] after hitting the cap level. Considering that some of the dungeon and raid bosses were avian in nature and most players predominantly fought in melee rather than ranged combat, it was invaluable during such encounters.

As a matter of fact, I already had the skill that was of paramount importance and the only skill in the game that had absolutely no cap whatsoever: Aura. Other skills could prestige upon reaching the required conditions and level 100, but Aura always stayed the same. It was a bit overpowered, but with the constant growth of the mobs it was almost unnoticeable, and you had to fight at your very limits a lot of the time.

Aura was a physical skill that, quote: "unshackled your very soul, pushing the body to become stronger, strive to become equal to the infinite well of energy within…" It could either be unlocked through completing a hard quest chain or through long and gruelling sessions of internal musings aka meditation. In fact, Meditation skill was a prerequisite to unlock Aura unless it was done through the quest. But the best thing about Aura was that it granted one stat point to every physical attribute per level. Not that it made much difference considering the mobs had a system-granted skill that did the same, but it was nice nevertheless.

Back in the beta, I did it the hard way, gaining several levels at once, but now it seems my parents did it for me. Eh, it's no big deal; Aura is easy to train up to the 200-250 levels, which is my goal for now. I returned back to training, intent on returning my former stats back where they belonged.

Gaining three levels in Acrobatics and one more in Weapons, I didn't notice when my parents returned home.

**[α] Lily Valkoinen, ?. MP: ?**

**[α] Edmund Valkoinen, ?. MP: ?**

Wow. Just… Wow. Those guys are at least dungeon-boss level, if not location-boss. That Alpha sign you see? It marks them as Elite Named mobs or NPCs in this case. And the fact that I can't see even the MP they have means they have it somewhere in the thousands, maybe no less than fifteen hundred. I wonder what skills they have.

Lily, my mother, was a spry young woman somewhere in her twenties, while Edmund was a broad-shouldered man showing signs of ageing – he had his fair share of wrinkles on his forehead, and he had already started to develop a second chin.

As soon as he saw me training, however, his face brightened and in two wide steps he was already near me and picking me up like a kid I was.

"Hello there, future Grimmslayer!" he boomed, though I wasn't startled in the slightest – he was just that cool, I guess. "How's your training going?"

Now, to clear out the possible misunderstanding – every NPC in modern games was run by a sub-process of the artificial intelligences that acted as overseers for every server. Normally a server had up to a hundred of them assigned at once, but some games out there had dozens upon dozens on every server, controlling every aspect in the game. This allowed for a massive reduction in scripting, as the AI filled in the blank spots in the character's personality and behaviour, making the worlds that much more appealing.

RWBY went even further – Rooster Teeth had so much money available that they managed to create a VI – Virtual Intelligence. VI technology was less versatile than AI, but they were perfect for controlling NPC. Should something happen that a VI couldn't handle, it was instantly replaced either with a more complex one or with a full-fledged AI. It was rare, and I've witnessed it only once – when I had to test the limits of a quest NPC. I've asked him many confusing questions, and when the VI started to flag, another took its place. The shift was almost imperceptible; the only way to notice it was closely watching the NPC's eyes for that glassy look a person has when dreaming.

I never treated RWBY's population of NPC as anything less than human, knowing full well that modern intelligences were fully capable of independent thought and decision-making. Especially with the fact that right now I'm just like them, a program within the server. Thus I considered Lily and Edmund like my real parents.

"Great, Dad," I exclaimed. "Wanna spar?"

He laughed at my enthusiasm. There was nothing wrong with such a request; in fact, I might even level up my sword-fighting faster this way.

"Of course, son! Just let me grab a training sword first. This big boy," he pointed at the massive cleaver he had strapped across his back in a loose sheath, "might be a bit over the top for training, hehe."

I fully agreed. Something like that could send me into the Grey Depths just by swinging near me. Several minutes later he came back from the house wielding the same weighted wooden sword I had in my hands. Mom just stood aside, looking at us both with a fond expression that made her look almost angelic.

"Now, Nero," he assumed a fighting position with the sword looking right into my face. "I will not attack, only defend. Your goal is to land as many hits onto your old man as you can."

I nodded, internally wiping the sweat off my forehead and assuming a stance I was most familiar with: one hand on the sword pointing sideways and downwards, left leg forward. It left a whole lot of holes in my defence, but that wasn't the goal right now. I had to attack him, the more the merrier.

**Quest Received: "Training Stage I"**

**Objective: **Land at least one hit onto Edmund.

**Reward:** +4 MP, +100 REP with Lily, +250 REP with Edmund, next event in the chain.

**Secondary Objective:** Land more than one hit onto Edmund.

**Reward:** +1 MP, +50 REP with both parents for every hit.

**Failure:** +1 MP, +50 MP with both parents, next event in the chain

I closed my eyes, dismissing the quest. Even if I fail, I get a consolation prize, but I'm not intent on failing today. I'm a gamer within a game, and nothing will stop me from getting to the top.

Not waiting for the signal to start, I silently charged Dad. We had maybe thirty feet between us, and I've managed to cross half of that in under a second.

I could plainly see that he was surprised by my speed, but his eyes never left me, tracking my movements and calculating my next step. A formidable opponent, against whom a trick won't work more than once, if at all.

He parried the slash that intended to split him open from hip to collarbone, blocked the next one and gracefully sidestepped from under my kick aimed at his kneecap. Even though it was plainly visible he was used to handling heavier weapons, Dad still was able to stop each and every attack I could devise. The shape and size of the sword prevented me from executing stabs fast enough to get through his barriers, and my lack of physical stats meant that I lacked strength in all of my attacks as well. I even went out of my way to avoid striking his blocks as the collision tended to send a jarring pulse through my whole body, leaving me momentarily dazed.

Three minutes later I stood panting across him, unable to even touch him with my blade, much less land a proper hit. Dad, on the other hand, still stood in that stance of his, as if mocking my weakness. Everything in him, from his posture to his gaze shouted: "You are weak, stand down and surrender, no need to disgrace yourself even more!" My AP was down to a mere three points from sheer exertion, and I haven't even gained a stinking skill level out of it.

My former life flashed in front of my eyes. My first schoolyard brawl where I ended up bruised and battered, but victorious. The first time I had to fight some armed thugs and ended up in a hospital with a bunch of knife wounds. The first time I went against a higher-level mob and shouted at him 'Come on, you fatass, how do you meet your guests? Didn't your momma teach you manners?' dying a hero shortly afterwards.

I was never a coward, I never will be. With that thought firmly in my mind, I went on a suicidal rampage. Each strike was now augmented with every ounce of strength I possessed and then some, each opportunity to strike was ruthlessly exploited. Even if I lose, I lose with my head held high.

Then, a miracle happened. Even if you asked both of us what happened at this precise moment, we wouldn't be able to tell you. My sword, empowered by some kind of supernatural force, in a last-ditch effort pierced the seemingly impenetrable defence and touched Dad's skin.

We both stopped. Time stopped.

**Quest Complete! 'Training Stage I'**

**Reward:** +4 MP, +100 REP with Lily, +250 REP with Edmund.

**Skill Levels Gained:** +4 [One-Handed Weapon]; +2 [Acrobatics]; +5 [Aura].

**New Skill Acquired!  
[Battle Rage] (Aura-draining), STR/END, Lv. 2 / 100**

"I knew you have the spark of a true warrior in you, son!" he bellowed, hugging me tightly. "This old man never doubted your tenacity!" He then stepped away, brandishing his sword again. "Now it is my turn to attack!"

**Quest Received! 'Training Stage II'**

**Objective:** survive against Edmund for as long as possible.

**Reward:** +2 MP, +50 REP with Edmund for every minute you manage to stay above 1 HP, next event in the chain.

Oh, fuck me sideways all the way to China and back.


End file.
